Touring around Belarus by car. Self-guided excursion by car to the best castles in Belarus. Some subtleties: currency, time, Internet

I have nothing against the “branded” Belarusian castles, the beautiful towns of Mir and Nesvizh. I myself visit these places several times a year. However, at some point you want something completely different from traveling around Belarus. After all, most of the year here it is not as hot or as sunny as many would like. Therefore, you only need to create the atmosphere yourself. This is how our joint venture with the company appeared Samsung in Belarus the "Winter Attacks" project and the routes that we came up with and tested on ourselves. Today I want to remember each one, help the reader organize it on their own and, of course, once again review the best pictures from the illustrator of the project Anya Redko.

Braslav "Zen" - medicine for city residents

Summer is coming, and we visited the Braslav Lakes in winter. I wanted to see the lenses of the lakes in the snow - but it didn’t work out. But even in the classic Belarusian off-season with slush and dampness, this area looks fascinating. I would recommend this route to city dwellers to disconnect from civilization for a day, or better yet, two. There is every chance for this if you go to the village of Ustye, not far from Slobodka, and talk to the owner of the U Borisovich estate, Yura Zherko. You can arrange a walk-excursion through the unusually quiet corners of our lake district. If you wish and there are free places, you can stay in one of Yuri’s farmsteads.

Duration: 1-2 days (it’s better to go overnight, since the road from Minsk can take half a day and it will be difficult to relax, and there is air, birds, a bathhouse...)

Kilometers: from Minsk to Ustya 260 km one way (4 hours drive)

Budget: excursion around the region with Yura Zherko 200,000 BYR (about 10 USD) per person, accommodation in an agricultural estate, subject to availability, from 200,000 to 300,000 BYR (10-15 USD) per day per person.

Welcome to nomadic peoples in Belarusian

There is Borisov near Minsk. The town itself is interesting - it is connected with Napoleonic places, the cathedral in the city center is unusual, at the entrance from Minsk there is a super-modern architecture football arena. In general, the city combines, as they like to say, the past and the future. One Minsk travel agency not long ago began taking groups to Borisov - here enthusiasts set up an entire nomadic camp. Indians, shamans, Mongols, an enclosure with husky dogs that are fashionable today, yurts - all this is very interesting and unusual. The excursion will not be long, so you will have the opportunity to walk around old Borisov.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: from Minsk to the nomadic camp near Borisov in Dudinka 80 km (1.5 hours by car)

Budget: travel agency "Skarbonka Tour" offers an excursion to the "nomads" for 250,000 BYR (12.5 USD) per person in a group of 40 people

Exclusive site. The roads of Rakovsky smugglers

The most secret route site of the beginning of 2016 :) We know that today the topic of Rakov and the border between the USSR and Poland has become definitely fashionable. At first they wanted to contact a travel agency that makes animated excursions on the theme of “meat”, but quickly abandoned this idea in favor of... immersion in reality. We took a cool blogger who is passionate about this topic, ourselves, comfortable shoes and a good SUV, we didn’t forget the book by Sergei Pesetsky, cucumbers, sausage and chocolate, and experienced one day in the life of smugglers in our own skin. Complete immersion in the era!

Duration: 1 day (but what a day it was, mmm!)

Kilometers: they didn’t count and wouldn’t even count, because they wandered through the fields, walked from farm to farm... Rakov is 45 km from Minsk, or about 50 minutes by car.

Budget: not limited, but it will be necessary to buy something from the market and in the store in order to have a snack at the former border - you definitely won’t find a cafe nearby.

Unusual Slonim. Private collection museum and walks with a local resident

How many unusual museums do you know in Belarus? I don't think I'll hear a whole list here. I will recommend one address to everyone. In the city of Slonim there is a wonderful woman, Nina Mikhailovna Anishchik, who with her husband turned her personal collection into a home museum. I met her a couple of years ago and only now had the opportunity to visit the collectors. Impressive carriage! For thrifty travelers, the price will be a big plus - zero rubles and zero kopecks. The main thing is to arrange a visit in advance. And Slonim is good, especially if you take a local for a walk in advance.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: from Minsk to Slonim 200 km one way (about 2.5 hours by car)

Unusual museums of Minsk - one fascinating day

If the weather is bad outside, for example, you are in Minsk and don’t know how to entertain yourself, we will recommend repeating our route through the unusual museums of Minsk. You will spend very little money, but at the end of the day you will have a lot of impressions and things to talk about. Not far from the Corona shopping center, in a former bomb shelter, there is the Elemento Science Museum. In one of the Minsk courtyards not far from the Zheleznodorozhnikov cultural center there is an oceanography center. In addition to the exhibits themselves, the opportunity to independently perform the experiment or touch the artifacts, what is impressive in these places is the people who are very touching about their museums and their themes. In a word, we are impressed and recommend it.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: in the center of Minsk

Budget: for both museums, an adult needs to prepare 170,000 BYR (or 8.5 USD), children's tickets to both museums will cost 120,000 BYR (about 6 USD) per person.

The Belarusian swamp is just space!

Belarus is trying to position itself in different ways. In addition to potatoes, paddy wagons, tongue grass, rivers and lakes, we are also a country of steep swamps. It’s not for nothing that journalists have already taken the site three times to the Yelnya nature reserve, in the north of Belarus. We also went there in the off-season to ride a cool swamp vehicle and experience unusual feelings. They overtake you when you fry lard on a peninsula, on a lake that is located inside a huge swamp. And three hours earlier, you were driving a car through a noisy, polluted city... In general, there is no time to explain, read for yourself and repeat our adventures.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: from Minsk to Miory is about 220 km one way (3.5 hours drive, so you need to leave the capital early)

Budget: visit to the visitor center of the Yelnya reserve 20,000 BYR (or 1 USD) per person; A ride on a swamp vehicle around the perimeter of the swamp will cost 550,000 (about 27.5 USD) for three people for three hours.

These dump trucks don't fit into your head, by God! Excursion to BELAZ.

I’m writing this review and wondering whether to help or not, dear reader. Organizing an excursion to BELAZ is not so easy. On the website you will not find contacts for the “excursion department”; it is not very easy to get through to Zhodino - you must remember that this is a state-owned plant. However, I will recommend this quest to everyone. After all, you will be able to look with your own eyes at the record-breaking dump truck, which was included in the Guinness Book, and also “cut” through the factory quarry for ten minutes on a 130-ton truck (only with a driver, of course!). After such excursions, individual enterprises of the country take pride.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: from Minsk to Zhodino 60 km (about 1 hour by car)

Budget: the excursion will cost 70,000 BYR (about 3.5 USD) per adult and 30,000 (about 1.5 USD) per child. A ride on a dump truck with a driver will cost 750,000 BYR (about 37.5 USD) per person for 10 minutes (they said that a child can be placed on your lap and there will be no charge)

Sula - four letters not far from Minsk, and such a steep route

Few Minsk residents have heard about Nalibokskaya Pushcha, which is located directly near Minsk. You heard? We decided to look at the local beauty from the water, organizing a one-day river trip along the Sula River. Before this, we planned to stop by the Sula History Park “for five minutes,” but we ended up hanging there for a good half day. As a result, the first half of the day we learned about the history of the region on a cool interactive excursion. We spent the rest of the daylight swinging our oars, walking about ten kilometers along the river under the supervision of experienced instructors. A super busy day and a ready route for you.

Duration: 1 day

Kilometers: from Minsk to the history park "Royal Assembly Sula" is about 65 km (about 1 hour by car), and then choose your own starting point along the river.

Budget: an art tour of the Sula History Park will cost 170,000 BYR (about 8.5 USD) per person and will take approximately 2.5 hours of your time. Hiking professionals will organize an express rafting trip of 10-15 km for approximately 600,000 BYR (30 USD) per person.

We tried out these routes for ourselves in the midst of the Belarusian off-season and had great fun. I am sure that with the onset of warmer days, the emotions received from such trips will be much greater.

I want to say a big thank you

At the beginning of September, Nina, Evgeniy and I went by car to Belarus. We had five full days at our disposal, during which we managed to see a huge number of sights, live in a castle, shoot with a machine gun, taste delicious Belarusian cuisine and drive more than 2000 kilometers along excellent roads.

Traveling around Belarus

How Nina and Natasha, greedy for sights, planned the route

Castles of Belarus

It turned out to be the easiest thing to agree on where and for how many days to go, because as soon as we opened the guidebook and other sources, it immediately became clear that it would be very difficult to satisfy our appetites in five days. Nina was ready to cover 800 km a day, but still have time to look both to the north of Belarus and to the southwest. I wanted to create a more optimal route so that I could travel less per day and see more. As a result, we decided that we would choose attractions that are located along our route, which will start from Nesvizh Castle and continue north around Minsk. To make it clearer, we can figuratively imagine our route like this. If you mentally put a compass on the map at the point “Minsk” and draw a radius of approximately 150 km from north to northwest, we will get approximately our route.

You can read more about our travel preparations, hotel bookings, and so on in separate article.
This is what our route looked like on the map.

View Route around Belarus on a larger map

After studying information about the sights of Belarus, we made a trip plan that covers some of the must-see places in the country.

Travel plan for Belarus by car

1 day. Road by car Moscow - Nesvizh. Overnight at Nesvizh Castle (See. first day of traveling around Belarus).
Day 2. Nesvizh palace and park complex - Mir Castle. Overnight at Nesvizh Castle (See. second day of travel around Belarus)
Day 3. Kossovo, Ruzhany, Slonim, Synkovichi, Novogrudok, Lida. Overnight in Lida (See. third day of the trip around Belarus).
Day 4 Lida Castle, Zaslavl and the Day of Belarusian Literature (more details here), Stalin Line, Smolensk. Overnight in Smolensk.
Day 5 A short walk around Smolensk and the road to Moscow (See how to see Smolensk in half a day).

Belarusian national costume

Fields, roads and Belarusian open spaces

Before the trip, we read on the Internet that Belarus has very good roads, which were vehemently opposed to ours. As soon as we crossed the border, we were a little surprised, because the road surface was old and not particularly smooth. But, in fact, we did not come as road service inspectors, so we began to look around.

We drove along the M1 highway, constantly passing signs with information about toll sections of the road. There is no need to be alarmed; since 2012, all roads have become free, but for some reason the signs have not been removed. The speed limit is 120, which is very comfortable.
The first thing that catches your eye is the sown fields and a huge number of tractors. Perhaps they see tractors on the road with the same frequency as Infinity jeeps in Moscow.

Tractor Belarus

On the roads you can even see a horse harnessed.

In Belarus

Since it was September, most of the harvest had already been harvested, the fields were watered with natural fertilizers... the aromas were simply “magical”.
Along the road we constantly came across fields sown with fodder corn and turnips, and once we passed a field of sunflowers, but Nina and Zhenya didn’t really let us get into it. Well, at least they gave me corn to pick, and thank you for that.
By the way, after we drove a few kilometers from the border with Russia, the road became very good, both the highway and secondary roads.

And everywhere there is perfect cleanliness. It's as if the streets are being washed with shampoo.
It can be seen that agriculture is well developed in Belarus. The fields are cultivated, livestock graze in the villages, locally produced products are sold in shops, and there are many trucks driving along the road carrying milk, meat, sausages, etc.

Belarusian cows

The decorations made of straw, sacks and other improvised materials displayed along the road look funny, glorifying farmers, telling about how many tons of crops were harvested here this year.

Traveling around Belarus

In general, folk art is very developed, even in cities you can find such compositions... Cheap, but beautiful?

Composition

The signs along the road are almost all written in Belarusian. In general, everything is clear, although a little unusual, because in the Belarusian language almost everywhere we put “A” where we have “O”, “E” - where “E” is. For example, “dvarets” - is it clear? The only time we had a misunderstanding with the Belarusian language was the search for the city of Zaslavl. It turned out that in Belarusian it is spelled Zaslaue, so we drove past the sign. In addition to signs, price lists and work schedules are posted in Belarusian in museums, but people speak absolutely everything in Russian.

We saw commercial signs, such as posters, almost always in Russian. Once we were walking through one of the towns, and on the fence of a private house there was a large banner advertising a concert by the Belarusian singer Koldun. Zhenya was very surprised that psychics earn so well here that they can afford to buy such advertising space. And then I was surprised again when I found out that this was such a surname.

Along the roads, as in Europe, brown tourist signs are placed everywhere for each attraction, and the more significant the attraction, the more often and at a greater distance from it the signs appear.
Photo
We had a road map of Belarus, a guidebook with a poor description of how to get to interesting places, this was quite enough. The Garmin navigator, despite updating the maps before the trip, only knew Minsk and a couple of other large cities that we did not need.

A story about the M1 road to Belarus is here.

Nature of Belarus

A trip around Belarus can be a great anti-stress adventure. The country has fresh air, beautiful nature, many kilometers of fields that create a feeling of complete freedom, delicious high-calorie and natural food, a sea of ​​architectural and natural attractions, as well as opportunities for active recreation: fishing, hunting, rafting, horse riding, hiking, cycling, walking routes in national parks. This topic is endless; it is impossible to talk about everything in one note.

Nature of Belarus

As part of this trip, we chose cultural tourism for ourselves, but next time we will definitely come for fishing and visiting national parks.
If you love outdoor recreation, then Belarus is perfect for this and can be an excellent alternative to Finland and other European lake countries. Especially in financial terms, because prices in the country are one and a half times lower. If we talk about service, what kind of service do you need for outdoor recreation?

There are a large number of agricultural estates in Belarus - this is something between a holiday home and the private sector. Agricultural estates come in different levels; you can live in a real village with all the ensuing consequences, or you can choose a comfortable house. Typically, agricultural estates offer additional services in the form of homemade meals, horseback riding, organization of fishing, hunting and various excursions.
Next time I plan to stay at an agricultural estate; I think it’s very interesting and unusual.

About the sights of Belarus

The sights of Belarus deserve to be told about them separately, since you can’t fit everything into one small paragraph. Interesting places in this country can be divided into several large groups: natural (for example, Belovezhskaya Pushcha), architectural (castles, estates, palaces), ethnographic (Dududka Museum near Minsk), memorial places associated with the Great Patriotic War (Khatyn, Brest Fortress) , pilgrimage and religious places (Cathedral in Polotsk, etc.). We did not set out to cover the immensity, so we strictly followed the planned route. Looking ahead, I will say that this was more than enough, since we were overwhelmed with impressions at the end of the trip.

Once upon a time, Belarus was called the “country of castles,” of which there were a lot. But even today one can be surprised at the special beauty of the castles of Belarus; first of all, Mir Castle (included in the UNESCO World Heritage List) and Nesvizh Castle should be highlighted.

Mir Castle

A whole tourist route has been developed for tourists, including both restored castles (for example, Lida Castle) and picturesque ruins.

Ruins of Novogrudok Castle

We independently visited the ruins of the Kossovo Castle, the ruins of the Palace in Ruzhany and saw the remains of the towers of the Novogrudok Castle. All these places are covered with interesting legends and historical events. Overall, we were impressed and eager to return.

Having driven through Belarus, we got the impression that tourists were clearly welcome here. I haven’t noticed any advertising of the country here, but it is clear that the state program for the restoration of architectural values ​​and the preservation of natural attractions is working effectively. Funds are being invested in the restoration of castles and palaces, ethno-museums have been created, ancient churches and other churches are in operation.

Some towns in the country are similar to Poland and the Baltic countries, especially churches, Catholic churches, palaces.

Town Hall in the center of Nesvizh

The urban development of the historical part of the cities dates back mainly to the 18th and 19th centuries, and, of course, the hand of the Bolsheviks is visible everywhere: gray Khrushchev buildings of the working class, factories, administrative buildings.

In the city of Slonim

Since Belarus suffered greatly during the Second World War, its echo can still be heard. Along the road we constantly saw monuments to soldiers and their mothers, fresh flowers near them. I can imagine how you can hear the echo if you visit Brest and Khatyn. We visited the military museum “Stalin Line”, located not far from Minsk. The defense line, which was built during the years of Soviet power to hold back enemy troops in the event of an attack, has been recreated in the open air. Taking an individual excursion, we went down to the bunker, where machine guns and a periscope are located, then walked past anti-tank defenses, along a ditch and saw a lot more. I will tell you about visiting the museum separately.

Stalin line

Stalin line

On weekdays there are few tourists, but there are even foreigners among them. We also saw companies of Belarusians traveling by car around their country, and we saw Ukrainian and Russian cars.

Belly festival and Belarusian food

Belarusian cuisine

Many people come to Belarus to eat tasty and cheap food. I know one person who goes there exclusively for this. I think many have already tried Belarusian products, of which there are a lot on our shelves, and can imagine what a variety of delicacies is found within the country. The fields are fertilized with manure, the cattle are well fed - everything indicates that Belarusians produce a natural product.

Many people associate Belarus with potatoes, and for good reason. The potatoes there are extremely tasty, and the national dish made from them called “pancakes” is beyond praise. In addition, various sauces and ingredients are added to pancakes: wild mushrooms in a creamy sauce, meat, etc., they are served in a frying pan, a pot, on a plate - whatever the cook’s imagination allows. In all restaurants. Aimed at tourists, they serve potato pancakes, mochanka with pancakes, rich fatty soups and a lot of other tasty and unhealthy dishes. The portions are large, the cost is low, so we constantly overeat. Each time we told ourselves that we wouldn’t order so much again, and each time we rolled out from the table. The average check per person after a very hearty lunch or three-course dinner is 300 rubles with our money, in expensive restaurants 500-700 rubles, which by our standards is very cheap. In general, control yourself).

About Belarusians

I can characterize Belarusians as leisurely and rather modest people who don’t smile too much. At the same time, if you start communicating with them, they gradually open up and feel much more free; almost all the people we met were very nice and responsive. They always helped us find our way when we tried to leave the city on the right road, and explained how to get to the castles. But the Belarusian ladies working in the service sector were an unpleasant surprise. Hotel administrators and waitresses do not bother to treat clients politely; we constantly had to put up with Soviet service. At first it was shocking, but then we got used to it.

A masterpiece from the hotel

For example, we stayed at a hotel on the territory of Nesvizh Castle, so the administrator did not even want to explain to us where the cafe was located, where a paid breakfast would be waiting for us in the morning. But she quickly taught us to be smart.
In small towns you can feel that the population is not rich. People are dressed very modestly, there are a lot of drunk men on the streets on a weekday, strange young people, a lot of gopniks. But dacha palaces have been built near Minsk, and you can feel that many people there are doing well with money.

On bicycles

Shopping, gifts, souvenirs

When planning the trip, we didn’t think much about shopping, but we still brought half a trunk of purchases. Nina and I should not be allowed into the store at all; only the owners of the establishment benefit from this.
When I got to the festival of Belarusian writing, I bought all sorts of fairy-tale characters in the person of a hedgehog grandmother, a brownie and another cute little person who should bring happiness to the house.
Here we bought 5 books about the sights of Belarus, and received two as a gift.
But that’s not enough for me, I grabbed three more sets of linen bed linen: for myself and as a gift for my parents.
In Nesvizh, Nina and I made a deal with a woman who was selling tablecloths with hand embroidery and lace. We stripped her tent, buying a total of 6 tablecloths.
In Slonim we went to a Belarusian cosmetics store and picked up a large bag of all sorts of jars and bottles. After spending 1000 rubles, at home we realized that you can only use hand cream, toothpaste and soap, and all kinds of masks and hair emulsions are complete nonsense. At least, after Israeli and American cosmetics costing at least 1000 rubles. For one means, of course, the Belarusian one does not sell. If you use Shamtu, Elseve and similar brands, then Belarusian cosmetics can be a good alternative and much cheaper.

Belarusian cosmetics

For edibles, we bought Belarusian chocolate and Lida beer. Many people still bring tinctures and vodka, but I can’t say anything, I haven’t tried it.
Initially, we planned to stop at the supermarket and buy food for home at Belarusian prices, but there were no shops along the road, and we no longer had time to go into the city.

I can say that for myself I decided to definitely go to Belarus again to see other interesting cities, castles, churches and fortresses. For example, ancient Polotsk, Vitebsk and Grodno, Belovezhskaya Pushcha and other national parks, the Brest Fortress.

Prices and reviews for hotels in Minsk

Prices and reviews for hotels in Brest

All hotels in Belarus

You can visit the medieval castles of Belarus on your own using a rented car. To do this, it is not at all necessary to pay for excursions and tours.

Usually I am against a quick sightseeing, but today I will change my principles and advise you not to spend the whole day on a couple of castles, as is recommended in guidebooks, but will suggest seeing 7 worthy places in 1.5 days: from the super-popular restored Mir Castle, to abandoned tomb in a village in the Brest region.

You will find a breakdown of your travel budget, a description of places, an already developed route and marks on the map.

Map of castles, palaces and tombs of Belarus

The map shows all the places we have visited or are planning to visit in the near future. As you can see, there are a lot of marks, so we highlighted them in color:

• green - the coolest places, in our opinion, that are definitely worth visiting,
• red - interesting places, but you can skip them if you don’t have enough time,
• yellow - where we have not been yet, but are planning to go.

This, of course, is purely our opinion. Write in the comments what you recommend watching. Let's go!

Map of castles in Belarus:

This post describes only our first day; the second post will tell about less tourist attractions in Belarus.

Excursion plan to the castles of Belarus for 1.5 days:

• Departure from Minsk at 9:00;
• Mir Castle;
• Roman Catholic Church of the Body of God;
• Nesvizh Castle;
• Overnight in Brest;
• Brest Fortress;
• Abandoned chapel-tomb of the Ozheshko family;
• Puslovsky Palace (Kossovo Castle);
• Abandoned Sapega palace complex;
• Return to Minsk at 21:00.

Mir Castle

Walking around and going into the courtyard is free.

Entrance to the castle itself: 10 BYN, for schoolchildren and students 5 BYN.

Location: Mir city.

Coordinates: 53.45115, 26.47291.

You can get there by bus on the Minsk-Novogrudok route. The journey takes 2 hours. By car from Minsk - 1 hour.

30 minutes for a quick inspection.

My opinion: worth a visit.

The architecture of the castle is a mix of late Gothic and Renaissance. Monumental and impregnable, the castle is included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list. Just look how beautiful it is!

Mir Castle was built at the beginning of the 16th century by tycoon Yuri Ilyinich.

You can stroll through the English-style park, see the defensive tiers, battle galleries, the chapel-tomb of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family, and also look into the basement.

Opposite the attraction there is a cozy alley along which you can walk and stroll. But I was very cold and realized why there were so few people here in the fall. The wind is terrible!

There are 4 towers at the corners of the castle, the fifth tower is in the middle. The number of towers is equal to the number of men in the Ilyinich family: 4 side towers - 4 sons, 1 central tower - Yuri Ilyinich himself, after whose death the castle was owned by everyone. As a result, the landmark fell into disrepair for many decades, and only in the 21st century did the Belarusian authorities finally decide to restore it. As you will understand later, mainly from the second post of this topic, not all significant sights are restored in Belarus. Many are still abandoned. So Mir Castle is very lucky.

The courtyard, which is completely free to enter.

Mir Castle also has its own hotel:

To be honest, I didn’t expect anything special from this pop attraction, but Mir Castle pleasantly surprised me: clean, cozy, it has its own atmosphere. If you are in Belarus, be sure to visit!

Near the castle there are stalls with souvenirs and a couple of cafes where you can buy hot coffee. Very appropriate in this chilly weather. Mir Castle is only 38 km from another well-restored landmark: Nesvizh Castle. So we immediately went there!

We drove for 30 minutes through numerous villages. In the villages, by the way, there is also something to see: the houses are bright and neat. Although the roads are not ideal, we didn’t get stuck anywhere, even considering that we were driving in the rain.

Roman Catholic Church of Corpus Christi

On the way to Nesvizh Castle, we looked into the Roman Catholic Church of the Body of God, built in the 16th century and since then has never closed its doors to parishioners. Wars, persecutions, more wars and devastation, but this baroque temple doesn’t care about anything: it has been working for four and a half centuries and that’s it.

Walking around and going inside is free.

Location: Nesvizh city.

Coordinates: 53.22051, 26.68392

15 minutes for a quick inspection.

My opinion: if you don’t have time, you can skip it.

Prince Nicholas Radziwill, nicknamed the Orphan, met in Europe the architect Bernardoni, whom he invited to Nesvizh to build a church in the European style. The young architect agreed, but arrived in Nesvizh only 15 years later. No, he wasn’t so late on purpose; being a Jesuit, he stopped along the way not in hotels, as is now customary, but in monasteries. And everywhere he stepped on the same rake: the Jesuits, having learned that he was an architect, would not let him go until he built a church for them. So it turned out that on the way from Rome to Nesvizh, Bernardoni built several attractions that still exist today. Having mastered his hand, the architect quickly erected the Roman Catholic Church of the Body of God and left for Krakow, where he died.

Nesvizh Castle

Enter the courtyard - 3 BYN.

Entrance to the castle itself: 14 BYN, for schoolchildren and students 7 BYN.

Opening hours: in summer from 10:00 to 19:00 (tickets sold until 18:00), from October 1 from 9:00 to 18:00 (tickets sold until 17:00).

Location: Nesvizh city.

Coordinates: 53.222631, 26.691949.

30 minutes for a quick inspection.

My opinion: worth a visit.

Nesvizh Castle in Belarus is located in the very popular tourist city of Nesvizh, so if you have a lot of time, in addition to the castle itself, you can visit the city hall, the former monastery complex, the Roman Catholic Church of Corpus Christi (mentioned above) and much more. See the cost of weekend tickets on the website niasvizh.by.

We walked around Nesvizh a little, it’s cozy here. There is no discrepancy in architecture and it is noticeable that the buildings are built in the same style, which gives the town a certain charm.

But let's return to the castle itself. It was built at the end of the 16th century and served as the residence of the richest family of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - the Radziwills. At one time, Nesvizh Castle was the most powerful and perfect fortification in Belarus and withstood many attacks.

The official price list does not include prices for visiting the courtyard, but the cunning security guards charged us 3 BYN for two and allowed us to visit the courtyard. The transfer of money was reminiscent of a crime detective story with a secret transfer of drugs - “Pass it, pass it on,” the guards whispered, “Only so that no one sees!”))

A little more about the shenanigans: the castle's treasury once housed a priceless collection of 12 apostles made of pure gold, studded with precious stones. One group of robbers tried to steal the golden apostles, so the real statues were hidden in the dungeons, and wax copies decorated with fake stones were displayed in the castle itself. Over time, wax figures of the robbers who tried to steal them were placed next to the apostles. This is how the world's first collection of wax figures appeared!

Just a minute, mi-mi-mi: on the warm hatch of the castle courtyard there was such an affectionate handsome man warming himself. Well, why not stroke it?

After visiting Nesvizh Castle, we headed to Brest for the night. The road is long, 273 km. We traveled by car for 2.5 hours. What to do on the road? Learn the names of passing villages! Appendages, New Popina, New Mouse, Derevnaya village and my favorite - the village of Dreams.

Overnight in Brest + 4 more attractions

We stayed for the night in a cozy apartment in the center of Brest:

In general, there are a lot of places where you can stay in Brest:

The next day we visited the Brest Fortress, the abandoned chapel of the Ozheshko family, the Puslovsky Palace (Kossovo Castle) and the abandoned Sapega palace complex. But more on that in the next post

Cost of traveling by rented car

Gasoline prices: 1.15 BYN for 92 gasoline, 1.25 BYN for 95 gasoline.

Car rental (Chevrolet 2014):

• 72 BYN per 1 day for the basic tariff (no more than 350 km per day);
• 80 BYN for 1 day, if you take the option with unlimited mileage.

We chose the unlimited mileage option. From Minsk to Brest and back, stopping at 7 attractions, we covered 1000 km. In total, we paid 190 BYN for renting a car for 1.5 days + for gasoline.

Meals in cafes cost us 60 BYN for two. Plus, we also bought all sorts of goodies for the holiday table (we celebrated our 5th anniversary of marriage).

Entrance to the castle grounds is free (except 3 BYN for Nesvizh Castle).

Travel Features

• You can drive with a Russian license.
• Roads and highways are only partially illuminated after sunset.
• It’s better not to leave sights for the evening: it’s worse to see, and the photos turn out so-so.
• Some attractions are located right next to the highway - very easy to get to.
• The roads are good; cars are officially allowed to travel up to 120 km/h on the highways.
• In mid-October there are few people. They say that there is a crowd of people here in the summer. So choose the off-season and you will be happy!
• There are private guides on duty at the castles (but in fact just local residents who are looking for their clients, gently offering to tell the history of the attraction).

Traveling and vacationing by car is becoming increasingly popular. In connection with the events in Ukraine, road trips around Belarus have reached the peak of popularity. The Belarusian destination is extremely attractive for tourism, thanks to its well-developed infrastructure and variety of attractions.

When planning a trip to Belarus by car, you need to take into account some features of the driving culture on highways, which differs from the Russian one for the better and the punishment for violating traffic rules is much more severe.

Route selection

1. Weekend in Belarus

If time is limited, you can organize an informative and eventful itinerary for 2-3 days. We invite you to visit Belarus with a detailed examination of two cities: the most ancient city of Belarus - Polotsk and the large historical center of avant-garde art - Vitebsk.

Road: Moscow (Moscow region) - Vitebsk (Belarus) - Shumilino - Obol - Polotsk - Vitebsk (Belarus) - Moscow (Moscow region).

Duration: 2-3 days.

Monument to the letter Ў in Polotsk

2. Castle belt of Belarus

On the territory of Belarus there are a large number of medieval castles and palaces, fortresses from the times of the Principality of Lithuania, noble estates, churches and churches in varying degrees of preservation. The proposed trip plan will allow you to become deeply acquainted with the so-called “Castle Belt” of Belarus. Traveling by car around Belarus, you can plunge into the world of towns, where life was not always as calm and measured as it is now. The first part of the trip will take place along the Moscow-Minsk route via Borisov.

Road: Moscow (Moscow region) - Borisov (Belarus) - Minsk - Zaslavl - Minsk - Rakov - Krevo - Boruny - Golshany - Desyatniki - Lida - Pruzhany - Kossovo - Synkovichi - Zhirovichi - Slonim - Novogrudok - Lyubcha - Lyubcha - Mir - Nesvizh – Dudutki – Orsha (Belarus) - Moscow (Moscow region).

Duration: 8 days.

Attractions to see

National Library

Gedimina Castle

Tyshkevich estate

National History Museum

Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK) on the roads of Belarus

Overcoming a long road will be as pleasant and convenient for you as possible if you have a Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK) card. By purchasing a member card of our club, you can always count on qualified and fast technical assistance, as well as evacuation services throughout almost all of Russia and Belarus, as well as in many European countries.

Traveling by car in Belarus can be ruined due to a breakdown on the road. However, as a member of RAMK, if problems arise with vehicles, assistance in eliminating which is provided to cardholders, you can always contact the RAMK contact center. Experienced mechanics will promptly go to the site and carry out urgent repairs or evacuation of vehicles.

Auto tourism in Belarus will leave you with extremely pleasant impressions, and no incidents on the road can ruin your vacation. The advantages of cooperation with RAMK are obvious:

• Large coverage area;
• Saving – money, time and nerves;
• High quality work;
• Efficiency of service provision.

Population: 9,498,700 people (2015);

Capital: Minsk;

Largest cities: Minsk, Gomel, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, Brest;

Official languages: Belarusian, Russian;

There will be no big hauls on this day. The actual inspection is scheduled for this day. Minsk And Zaslavl. Initially, it is advisable to get to Zaslavl (about 50 km there and back), see everything there and slowly explore the beauties of Minsk. Accordingly, another overnight stay in the same Minsk.

Attractions:

The historical and cultural complex "Stalin Line" is an open-air military-historical museum. The historical basis of the museum is the bunkers of the Minsk fortified area. The museum has recreated and equipped the company area of ​​the fortified area. Military engineers restored two machine-gun bunkers, an artillery half-caponier, and a command and observation post. The engineering equipment of the area was recreated according to pre-war drawings. The exhibition includes all types of trenches, trenches and anti-tank ditches of various profiles, positions for rifle squads, dugouts for sheltering personnel, trenches for guns, hollows - wooden, concrete, metal, wire barriers of various types. The Military History Museum contains the most complete exposition in Belarus of all military equipment, artillery, tanks, aviation, and small arms that were in service in various years, starting from the war. The museum contains a unique exhibition of Russian, Polish and German armored caps, preserved from the First World War.
Address: Near the village of Loshany, Minsk region, 6 km from the city of Zaslavl in the direction of Molodechno, tel. (+375 17) 503-20-20, 503-23-43, 210-46-30
Operating mode: Tuesday - Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00, closed on Monday
Coordinates: N 054 3.519, E 027 17.845
Rating: 134.95

Attractions:

Museum of the History of the Belarusian Railway

Founded in 1971. An extensive collection of items related to the history of railways (communication devices, coupling elements and warning structures, models of trains and cars). The collection is constantly growing.
Address: Minsk, Chkalova str., 7, Palace of Culture and Sports of Railway Workers. tel (375 17).225-24-14, 225-54-79.
Operating mode: Mon-Fri: 08.00-17.00 (break - 12.00-13.00), Sat-Sun: closed
As of May 2017 closed for reconstruction
Coordinates: N 053 52.676, E 027 32.200
Rating: 6.58

National Museum of History and Culture of Belarus

The museum presents archaeological, ethnographic, numismatic, military-historical collections, as well as collections of ancient books and manuscripts, icons, religious clothing, and works of folk art. Your attention will be presented to both objects of primitive art and works of high art of medieval culture - the world-famous Slutsk belts, altar gates, porcelain products.
Address: Minsk, st. K. Marksa, 12, tel. 227-43-22
Operating mode: from 11.00 to 18.00. Closed - Wednesday
Coordinates: N 053 53.811, E 027 33.334
Rating: 37.38

National Library of Belarus

The shape of the building is similar to a sphere with edges; it is also called a rhombicuboctahedron. The library is 72.6 meters high (20 floors) and weighs 135,000 tons, of which 20,000 tons are books. When the sun sets, the building turns on special lighting: flowers, patterns, and laser inscriptions create a festive mood for city residents every day.
Currently, the National Library of Belarus is one of the largest in the world.
Excursions for individual visitors (team group):
Tue., Wed., Fri.: 12.00, 15.00, 18.00
Thu, Sat, Sun: 12.00, 15.00, 17.00
Mon. - day off.
Observation platform:
Mon. – Thu, Sun: 13.00–22.00
Last rise – 21.30
Fri., Sat.: 13.00–23.00
Last rise – 22.30
Address: Minsk, ave. Independence, 116
Operating mode: Monday – Friday 10.00–21.00, Saturday, Sunday 10.00–18.00. During the summer period (from July 1 to August 31), Sunday is a day off. The last Monday of every month is sanitary day.
Coordinates: N 053 55.872, E 027 38.776
Rating: 188.58